AQR Capital Management LLC Trims Stake in Iridium Communications Inc $IRDM

Key Points

• AQR Capital Management LLC reduced its stake in Iridium Communications Inc by 56.4%, selling 530,295 shares and leaving it with 410,476 shares valued at approximately $11.09 million.
• Despite a 7.9% increase in quarterly revenue year-over-year, Iridium missed earnings expectations, reporting $0.20 EPS compared to the $0.23 consensus estimate.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend increase from $0.14 to $0.15, representing a yield of 3.3%, with the dividend to be paid on September 30th.

AQR Capital Management LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Iridium Communications Inc (NASDAQ:IRDM - Free Report) by 56.4% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 410,476 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 530,295 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC owned approximately 0.38% of Iridium Communications worth $11,093,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. increased its position in shares of Iridium Communications by 37.2% during the first quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 1,757 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $48,000 after acquiring an additional 476 shares during the last quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd grew its stake in Iridium Communications by 3.7% in the 1st quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd now owns 13,402 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $366,000 after purchasing an additional 480 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of Iridium Communications by 14.1% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,961 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $108,000 after purchasing an additional 488 shares during the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP raised its stake in shares of Iridium Communications by 6.6% during the 4th quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 8,100 shares of the technology company's stock worth $235,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the period. Finally, Natixis Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Iridium Communications by 3.8% in the 1st quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 14,750 shares of the technology company's stock worth $403,000 after buying an additional 546 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.36% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

IRDM has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Raymond James Financial downgraded shares of Iridium Communications from a "strong-buy" rating to an "outperform" rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $39.00 to $26.00 in a report on Thursday, September 11th. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Iridium Communications from $38.00 to $31.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of Iridium Communications from $40.00 to $37.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, BWS Financial lowered Iridium Communications from a "neutral" rating to a "sell" rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $25.00 to $16.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 9th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Iridium Communications has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $30.67.

Iridium Communications Stock Performance

IRDM stock traded down $0.02 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $18.16. 2,778,714 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,080,168. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.93 billion, a PE ratio of 18.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $25.40 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $26.38. Iridium Communications Inc has a 52 week low of $17.08 and a 52 week high of $35.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.82, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 2.51.

Iridium Communications (NASDAQ:IRDM - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The technology company reported $0.20 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.23 by ($0.03). Iridium Communications had a return on equity of 20.28% and a net margin of 13.20%.The company had revenue of $216.91 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $214.73 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.27 earnings per share. Iridium Communications's revenue was up 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Iridium Communications Inc will post 0.89 EPS for the current year.

Iridium Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 15th. This is a boost from Iridium Communications's previous quarterly dividend of $0.14. Iridium Communications's payout ratio is presently 60.61%.

Iridium Communications Profile

Iridium Communications Inc provides mobile voice and data communications services and products to businesses, the United States and international governments, non-governmental organizations, and consumers worldwide. The company offers postpaid mobile voice and data satellite communications; prepaid mobile voice satellite communications; push-to-talk; broadband data; and Internet of Things (IoT) services.